For three decades, the SSTI Digest has been the source for news, insights, and analysis about technology-based economic development. We bring together stories on federal and state policy, funding opportunities, program models, and research that matter to people working to strengthen regional innovation economies.
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The momentum building in the 21 “Building Better Regions” (BBR) projects is growing, and RTI, the leader of the BBBRC Community of Practice, and SSTI are seeing positive impacts and approaches to collaborative regional innovation that could benefit other practitioners and TBED stakeholders if made aware of the success.
Within the first minutes of his opening remarks for the committee’s hearing with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, suggested the Senate needed to be convinced of the administration’s call to shutdown of NIST’s Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Following the April 13, 2026, reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, federal agencies are beginning to resume activities after a lapse of more than six months, though progress so far has been uneven.
It's spring in the northern hemisphere, which means Earth Day and bird migration. What does this have to do with regional innovation? Bear with me. One of the fascinating aspects of the annual avian spring migration is the role that chickadees seemingly serve, both Black-Capped and Carolina in the eastern half of the US, helping birds of other species, likely tired, find easy food for refueling. Whether one is out in the woods, parks, or backyards, hearing a chickadee this time of year excitedly repeating their namesake songs, it's worth a look to see who else might be tagging along.
You might still be asking what that has to do with encouraging regional innovation? Everything.
A recent State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) FY 2025 report suggests that public higher education funding is at a potential crossroads. Education appropriations per full-time equivalent (FTE) student peaked in FY24, then declined by 1.0% in FY25. It is unknown whether this recent downturn marks the beginning of a downward trend or is just a glitch in the previous 12-year run of increases.
The federal government invests billions of dollars each year in R&D, expecting these investments to lead to new technologies, firms, and broader economic growth. Under the framework established by the Bayh‑Dole Act, universities, small businesses, and nonprofit institutions may retain ownership of inventions developed with federal support and pursue their commercialization. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Technology Transfer: Funding Recipients Keep Most Federally Funded Inventions, but Some Cited Reporting Challenges, examines whether the policies governing federally funded inventions are helping or hindering the transfer of those inventions. The analysis is timely given the current policy focus on strengthening domestic innovation capacity and supply chain resilience.
What are current trends in the financial health and well-being of the business, industry, and trade associations, including tech councils and chambers of commerce, that can play various roles related to a state or regional innovation strategy? Association involvement can cover the full spectrum of helpfulness and harm as these communities may serve as allies, antagonists, assistants, advocates, or adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System recently published a new FEDS Notes article titled Monitoring AI Adoption in the US Economy. The article examines trends in AI adoption in the U.S. using three publicly available surveys: the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), Real-Time Population Survey (RPS), and Survey of Business Uncertainty. These surveys respectively capture data at the firm-level, individual-level, and from business executives.
On April 13, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun announced that the Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC) is committing $15 million to a new venture capital initiative designed to attract high-tech Israeli startups to Indiana. The investment is part of the "Iron Nation–Indiana" partnership, a $60+ million initiative aimed at creating a "strategic bridge" to connect Israeli technology firms with Indiana's industrial and research ecosystem. The funding will come from the IEDC’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.
SC Launch Inc., the investment affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority, was named in PitchBook’s 2025 Global League Table for the Southeast region. The ranking award is attributed to SC Launch Inc.’s acceleration in investment activity during recent months. Since July of 2025, with a significant increase in the last quarter of the year, SC Launch Inc. has invested almost $4 million in 12 high-growth startups from across the state.
For more than 30 years, Prof. Don Siegel and Prof. Al Link have made valuable contributions to our understanding of effective technology transfer, academic entrepreneurship, and public policy. In June 2026 they will be recognized for their research as they receive the 2026 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. In a special SSTI webinar on April 8, they reflected on what decades of research tell us about how universities drive innovation and regional technology-based economic development. In his remarks, Siegel emphasized that modern universities have evolved beyond ivory towers into entrepreneurial ecosystems: technology transfer offices (TTOs), industry partners, incubators, and entrepreneurship programs all working together. His research shows these systems can help make firms more productive, but their effectiveness depends on commitment from both the firm and the university, not just agreements on paper. He stressed that culture and incentives matter as much as research funding.
The Trump Administration’s FY 2027 budget request, submitted to Congress on April 3, bears considerable resemblance to its FY 2026 request with proposals to cut funding for many of the agencies and line items of most interest to the state and regional innovation community. Congress approved a FY 2026 budget that in most ways mirrored previous years’ allocations for TBED-related programs and priorities, such as R&D.
